American Beauty - Grateful Dead (Warner Bros. WS 1893)
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The Dead:
Jerry Garcia - guitar, pedal steel, piano, vocals
Phil Lesh - bass, guitar, piano, vocals
Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
Pigpen (Ron McKernan) - harmonica, vocals
Mickey Hart - percussion
Bill Kreutzmann - drums
Robert Hunter - songwriter
Full album download includes Bonus Material:
Truckin' (Warner Bros. Single #7464 A-Side - Released 1/20/71)
Friend Of The Devil (5/15/70 Late Show, Fillmore East, New York, NY)
Candyman (4/15/70 Winterland, San Francisco, CA)
Till The Morning Comes (10/4/70 Winterland, San Francisco, CA)
Attics Of My Life (6/6/70 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA)
Truckin' (12/26/70 Legion Stadium, El Monte, CA)
Ripple (Warner Bros. Single #7464 B-Side - Released 1/20/71)
Radio Ad for American Beauty
Released in November, 1970
Recorded in August and September, 1970, in San Francisco, at Wally Heider's Studio, 245 Hyde Street, between Turk and Eddy Streets, with the Blackhawk Jazz Club across the street. Stephen Barncard was the engineer for this album, and mixed it. Most of the album was recorded "live" with Jerry Garcia on acoustic guitar, Phil Lesh on bass, and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. During the recording sessions of the rhythm tracks, Weir and Garcia were sat close together, and baffles were placed around Kreutzmann's drum kit. Barncard used AKG C60 small capsule condenser microphones for the acoustic guitars, placing them in the guitar's sweet spot. On "Truckin'" and "Candyman", the acoustic guitars were routed through a United Audio Model 1176 limiter. On most of the vocals, Garcia sings the melody, Lesh sings the upper voice, and Weir sings the middle voice. The vocals were recorded using Shure 67 mics, each mic run through its own limiter, and then doubled. Because they could not "double" themselves consistently, when the vocals were double tracked, sometimes the results were six voices.
"Till The Morning Comes" and "Candyman" were recorded in Studio A, and the rest of the album was recorded upstairs in Studio C.
Parts of "Friend Of The Devil" were written at Rock Scully's house in Kentfield, California: Robert Hunter brought over the beginning words and John "Marmaduke" Dawson provided the "set out running but I take my time, a friend of the Devil is a friend of mine" line.
The lyrics to "Truckin'" was started by Robert Hunter in San Francisco, and finished while touring with the Dead in Florida.
The death of Garcia's mother was the inspiration for "Brokedown Palace".
"Box Of Rain" was written for Phil Lesh's father, who was dying.
Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics to "Ripple", "To Lay Me Down", and "Brokedown Palace" in the span of one day while he was in London, England.
On "Box Of Rain", David Nelson plays the electric guitar solo on a Fender Telecaster guitar with a Parsons/White StringBender, David Torbert plays bass, and Phil Lesh plays acoustic guitar.
David Grisman plays mandolin on "Ripple" (where he was double tracked) and "Friend Of The Devil".
Bob Weir plays a Leslie-speakered electric guitar on "Sugar Magnolia", which was then double tracked.
Howard Wales plays organ on "Candyman" and "Truckin'", and plays piano on "Brokedown Palace".
This is the first album with Ned Lagin, who plays piano on "Candyman".
Jerry Garcia plays pedal steel guitar on "Sugar Magnolia" and "Candyman".
(notes excerpted with permission from "The Compleat Grateful Dead Discography" by Ihor Slabicky)
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